Dropping the Hammer: Steve O’Donnell Changes His Tune

Over the years, new NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell has become kind of a meme.

Not him, exactly. Just the things he says.

OK, the one thing. You know what it is.

“We like what we’re seeing.”

Whether he said it just once, twice or 50 times, be it in an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio or in a press conference, it’s the quote that has become synonymous with O’Donnell.

It’s basically the equivalent of the cartoon where a dog is sitting in a burning room and nonchalantly says, “This is fine.” Or the scene from the original version of The Naked Gun movie of Frank Drebin telling people, “There’s nothing to see here. Please disperse,” as a building explodes behind him.

In the NASCAR fandom, the quote has become a catch-all.

Anytime a NASCAR executive — O’Donnell or otherwise — made a positive comment regarding the racing product, the playoffs, the Next Gen car or some other topic, despite all evidence to the contrary?

“We like what we’re seeing.”

On Oct. 8, the messaging coming from O’Donnell … changed a little bit.

The NASCAR president appeared on the Dale Jr. Download to make a big announcement. Or whatever adjective is appropriate to describe a change of 80 horsepower.

That’s how much NASCAR will be increasing horsepower levels in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026 at all racetracks shorter than 1.5 miles and road courses. That’s an increase from 670 hp to 750 hp.

Fans and drivers have been banging that drum for years, and they’re finally getting their wish.

Will it actually provide a noticeable improvement to the racing product? Who knows!

But the most interesting thing to me about O’Donnell’s appearance on the DJD wasn’t about the horsepower and the thinking that went into the decision. It’s what O’Donnell said about the current playoff format, which has been the clearest sign yet that changes are coming next year.

In short, O’Donnell shared the opinion that he viewed the format as having stunted the sport’s ability to create star power of its ranks of drivers.

He used Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell to frame his thinking.

“Here’s where I’m at, first off,” O’Donnell said. “We got rules in place for this year. What I don’t want to do is take away from whoever wins the championship this year. Those were the rules. Everybody knew them. Let’s go race. And whoever wins that championship, I’m going to stand behind that driver and team and say, ‘that’s our champion.’

“Having said that, what gets me to think about it is Christopher Bell.”

O’Donnell touted Bell as someone who will have conversations with him behind closed doors and share his “honest opinion” about things like the playoffs and not broadcast those discussions on social media.

And Bell’s opinion about the playoffs is one “which I agree with,” O’Donnell said, before sharing what Bell had discussed with him.

“Hey, man, if I roll off 10 wins in a year and I go to one race and a couple other guys get into me or whatever, I’m not the champion. … [What if] four years in a row that happens? I don’t want the next Christopher Bell, who’s 10 years old right now, thinking about NASCAR, wanting to go to NASCAR, wanting to be a champion and say[ing], ‘huh, this is a little bit more of a chance on one race, right?’

“I also look at it like, Christopher Bell to me is a superstar in our sport. You roll off four championships in a row with eight wins and a body of work, whatever that may be, that’s good for our sport. People are talking about him.”

O’Donnell then brought up the Daytona 500. He insinuated that he believed the playoffs have devalued the biggest race in NASCAR on some level.

“I think about how big that race is,” he said. “And one of the narratives [is], ‘oh, he’s in the playoffs.’ Man, it’s the Daytona 500, right?”

However, O’Donnell said he would “argue until I’m blue in the face” that the racing has changed for the better due to the emphasis place on winning and there are aspects of that he doesn’t want to see go away.

O’Donnell also acknowledged the format was put in place to attract “new fans, but you can’t do that at the expense of kind of where your existing fans are.”

“That to me is part of the conversation, too, of thinking you can do some things that may bring in new folks,” he added. “But when I say being authentic, be authentic with who you are and those fans will come, and newer fans will come.”

Does O’Donnell feel more at liberty to share feel true opinions on matters now that he’s president of NASCAR? Or has the bottoming out of TV ratings during the playoffs escalated things to the point where NASCAR can’t help but acknowledge things have gotten out of hand?

Either way, it’s better than having to sit through another “we like what we’re seeing” interview.